Search - Coolio :: Gangstas Paradise/Clean Version

Good rap cd

a 15 year old music fan | IN | 09/25/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Now, I'm not a big Coolio fan. But I've just always liked the song "Gangsta's Paradise". Even though that's the initial reason I bought the album, there are many more good songs on it. I like the song "Ghetto Highlights" almost as much as the title track. "Sumpin New(1,2,3,4)" is a pretty catchy tune I used to hear at roller skate places a lot. Those are my 3 favorite songs, but I also like the songs "Kinda High, Kinda Drunk" and "Exercise Yo' Game". The only reason I took off a star is because since this is an edited album, there are a couple of songs that could be good that are edited so much, it takes away from the songs."

Prototype teen pop, really nothing else

mianfei | 07/19/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"In an age of "boom boom" dance music and overblown, hyperamplified grunge, I was inclined to think that, when I heard Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" - even as I was knowing about what "gangsta" meant in relation to rap - was something a little better.



The fact was/is, that this style of synthesised, semimelodic rap today sounds like the perfect prototype for, yes, the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. Coolio clearly sounded like he wanted to remove the melodies and the hooks that at least made commcercial music from the eighties easy to listen to (well, I listened to nothing but for the best part of two decades) and replace it with a synthesised, airy, flyweight sound that would serve perfectly as background music on your commercial station. The song is not memorable like hit singles of the 1980s were, and the singer can never tell whether he wants to talk or actually to sing.



This was perhaps the first song to be a hit AS background music on the radio, rather than from simple, catchy lyrics and vocals that had made hit singles before. As it stands today, this soundtrack rap album is almost a protype for the Backstreet Boys, who sound quite similar to Coolio, actually, even if they never rapped.



If you like the Backstreet Boys or N'Sync (no need for rudeness) you'll love this for the meandering melodies and total absence of memorable rhythms. if you want more substance, stay right away. Coolio copies Stevie Wonder's "Pasttime Paradise" on this one: going back to the source would be most welcome."

Could be better

Sydney B. Stevenson | Coopersburg,PA USA | 04/25/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"this CD isn't bad but it could be better. It needs more songs and it needs better songs. The only song I really liked was gangstas paradise. I really don't know why they made an edited vesion. Coolio doesn't curse much. Oh well... Buy the unedited version!!!!(or Tupac, 50 cent, Eminem, or Chingy)."